How should I aerate my tree?

[Ray Brown]

I've got a young tree in our front yard, it was planted in February this year when the house was built. It's not doing bad, but it wasn't planted very good, it was too deep.
I dug down until I found were the roots started to come off the trunk, and then doug out at that depth about 20" around the trunk of the tree. I exposed some small roots, but nothing too large. I then covered it back up with a think layer of cedar mulch.
The tree has green leaves, but there are some brown spots on most of them, so that makes me think it's not as healthy as it should be.

I've read the sick tree treatment, and it says to aerate the soil around the tree, how should I go about doing that? What diameter hole? Like a pencil size? Should I worry about hitting roots?

The soil around the root ball is hard clay....

I put down greensand/lava in March, and I followed that up with some natural fertilizer and greensand this past week. I plan on spraying the tree with Garrett Juice as well.

Anything else I can do to get this tree on it's way?

[The Ent]

I'd hit it with some horticultural corn meal to eliminate fungal issues. Also, don't leave the mulch on there very thick- in the case of tree roots, you need to let them breathe. Make it a thin layer- even too much mulch can be a bad thing in this case.

As to aerating the soil, there's any number of methods and frankly anything you can do is good. Even an old broom-stick used to make holes around 12-18 inches deep around it will help.

[CCC/treehugger]

Always looking to use what resources I already have, I found a real estate for-sale sign metal frame makes an excellent aerator. I don't have to pound it in, just step on the footrest and use my weight to do the work. Do it when the ground is soft and you can make holes about 9-12" deep with ease.

Now, don't go lifting a sign from someone's yard. Check with a real estate agency; it just might have some old signs they would be glad to give away. I rescued several on trash pickup day, keeping them out of the landfill, intending to use them for garage sale signs. Now they serve two purposes.

[davehiggo]

I used a tining fork, which worked great for a while. Makes four holes at once. However, the clay was so hard to work in, the handle evenually came off in my hands! If I could find a sturdier fork, it would solve my problem.

[The Ent]

davehiggo-

Also, after a few years on the organic program, the soil will correct itself. Mine was tough when we moved in, then within 3 years it became very pliant and easy to till.

[davehiggo]

Problem solved - a friend welded the fork part of my tining fork into slots cut in a 4' heavy gauge metal fence post. The thing weighs a ton but gets the job done in a hurry!

Dave